


grab a soda it'll help you see faster :)

by MonstrifraMinerva



Category: Half Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware, Half-Life
Genre: Gen, first chapter is him having soda for the first time :), just me writing about and expanding upon hcs i have for tommy, second chapter is pre-hlvrai tommy benrey friendship time
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-06-12
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:34:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24424363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MonstrifraMinerva/pseuds/MonstrifraMinerva
Summary: i love writing tommy and figuring out his lore so ill probably put all my tommy content here??? none of the chapters will be related probably bc i hate doing multichapter things but i have a lot of one-shot ideas so ill shove them all in here
Relationships: Benrey & Tommy Coolatta
Comments: 12
Kudos: 80





	1. grab a soda!!!!!

**Author's Note:**

> sometimes you have to make the content you want to see in the world yourself and in this case that's me making G-man Raising Tommy content :pleading:

The first time Tommy saw faster, he was at his father’s work. After weeks of begging to see his office, Tommy’s father finally gave in and obliged to his son’s wish, and so the six-year-old was taken to the largest building he had ever seen. The hallways winded endlessly, like some sort of labyrinth, and the floors looked like they had never seen a speck of dirt. Tommy was intimidated by the professionalism of it all, but he supposed that this was how adults in general worked, very seriously managing grown-up things in a very serious (and boring) office. That’s how his father was, at least, always calm and composed, even if Tommy had made a mess in the house. 

But Tommy was not an adult like these people, and so he felt very out of place, and very bored. The bright reds and yellows of his outfit stood out against the plain whites and greys of the surrounding room, making Tommy feel that he was not supposed to be here. He almost wished that he shouldn’t have begged his father to bring him in for a day, but at least he got to see what his father did for a living. It was mostly just talking with different men in suits, signing papers, more men, more papers. His father introduced him to some of these men when they had first arrived that morning, but Tommy didn’t remember any of their names. They all looked the same to him, with their slicked back hair and fancy suits. 

“Dad, I’m- I’m bored,” Tommy whined. He was sitting on a desk chair, much too large for him, and swinging his legs to get out some sort of energy. “Isn’t there something fun to do around here?” 

His father, G-man, sighed, and put down his pen. “I thought I told you to bring your little video games to keep you occupied.” 

“I’ve been playing my Game Boy for- for, uh, over an hour, Dad, I’m tired of it. I wanna do something else.” 

“Well then,” G-man said, closing the manilla folder he had been working on papers in, “it seems to be around noon anyways. I think it’s about time my little man has some lunch, hm?” 

“Okayyy,” Tommy replied, plopping down from the oversized office chair and grabbing his lunch box. He just hoped that his father hadn’t packed turkey sandwiches in his lunch. 

Tommy’s father held his hand as he led him through the maze of the building to a large open area, a room Tommy recognized as being a cafeteria, much like the one at his school. Sitting down at one of the many small tables, Tommy set his lunch box down with a light metallic clunk and undid the latches. Thank god, it was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches today, his favorite, so he got to eating. 

“Hey, Dad?” Tommy asked with a mouth half-full of food, while rummaging around in his lunchbox. “Where’s my- where’s my orange juice?” 

G-man raised an eyebrow. “Is it not in there?” 

The young boy shook his head. 

His father exhaled through his nose sharply. “It is very lucky that we have vending machines here, then.” He dug into his pockets and pulled out a dollar bill. “Now, Tommy, have you ever used a vending machine before?” 

Tommy shook his head again. 

G-man flattened out the bill and placed it on the table in front of his son. “All you have to do is put this dollar in a little slot in one of those machines,” he pointed over to a row of large metallic boxes, things that Tommy had never seen the likes of before. “Then you press the number of the item that you want, and the machine drops it in a little box for you to reach in and get it.” 

“That’s. So. COOL!!!!” Tommy shouted, forgetting that this was an Adult Place and being loud was not permitted. “Can I go play with one of them, please?” He banged his fists on the table in excitement, creating a loud clanging from the metallic table. 

G-man cringed at the noise. “Yes, yes, you can go use one. But it’s not for playing. You grab your item and carry on about your day.” 

“Aww, okay,” Tommy said. “Can I- can I at least go try it, um, by myself?” 

“Do you think you are able to do it by yourself?” 

Tommy nodded his head. 

“Alright then. If you need any help, don’t hesitate to come ask me.” 

The machines were much larger than the six-year-old, reminding him of the large rectangular skyscrapers of the city. Some of the machines even had their goods organized into rows and columns, much like how Tommy noticed the windows on skyscrapers were organized. It all looked very professional, and Tommy was ecstatic to participate in such a grown-up activity. 

Looking for a machine that could give him juice, Tommy spotted a bright red machine with white lettering on the front. It looked odd, since the rest of the machines had many different options shown in a window, but this one didn’t seem to have a window at all, just a smooth front with sideways lettering. Tommy turned his head to the side to make out the letters. 

“Coke.” What a weird word. He couldn’t tell what was inside of it, but it reminded Tommy of a refrigerator, and refrigerators were where Tommy’s father kept the juice, so it was worth a shot. 

He could barely reach the slot that he figured the dollar went into, but after balancing on his tiptoes, he managed to get the machine to pull in the bill. He remembered that his father wanted him to press some sort of button, and the only buttons Tommy could see were under the money slot, so he pondered which button to press. He eventually decided on the plain red one that matched the rest of the machine, and pressed it in excitedly. 

Tommy heard light clunking noises inside the machine, and looked towards the small black opening where he figured the juice would come out. A heavier clunking noise coming from the opening confirmed the boy’s thinking, and he quickly reached inside. 

The texture was metallic, instead of the plastic Tommy was used to, and the shape of the container was different. Tommy paused and hesitantly pulled out the item, trying to figure out if this really was juice. It wasn’t like any juice bottle he had ever seen, but when he moved it he could tell that there was indeed liquid inside it. Maybe it was just how adults drank their juice. 

There wasn’t any way to open it that Tommy could tell, so he ambled over to his father for help. 

“Dad, how do you open this juice? There’s no, uh, no cap.” 

G-man looked up from the plain toast he was eating, that Tommy hadn’t noticed before. He took a look at what Tommy held in his hands and sighed. 

“Thomas, you know you’re not allowed to have soda. It has too much sugar.”

“This is soda?” Tommy questioned. “You never told me soda looks so- so cool!” 

“Have you never seen a soda can before? I thought you would have by now, at least with school…” G-man trailed off. 

“All I know about soda is that, uh, it’s banned from school because- because they don’t want it to explode.” Upon saying this, Tommy looked down at the can with wide eyes. “IS THIS GOING TO EXPLODE???” 

His father let out a laugh, quickly grabbing the can out of the boy’s hands to ease his stress. “It won’t explode, son, or at least not in the way you think of.” He cracked open the can carefully, not knowing if Tommy had shaken the can or not. Luckily, no foam flared up from the drink. “I suppose, just this once, you may have a soda. It has already been paid for, after all.” 

“Rea- really?” Tommy scrambled back onto the cafeteria chair. “What does it, it, uh, taste like? Is it like orange juice? Apple juice?” 

“Why don’t you just taste it and see for yourself?” G-man held out the can to his son, who took it carefully. “Now sip it slowly, I don’t want you to start choking because you decided to chug it.”

Tommy listened to his father and drank the soda slowly, but he still almost choked on it. 

“It’s- it’s spicy!” 

“That is… one way to put it. There are little bubbles in the soda that make it like that.” 

Tommy took another drink. He hadn’t tasted anything with this flavor before, and he couldn’t really describe it other than that it was sweet. Even though the bubbles were something to get used to, he liked it. 

“Dad, why am I not- not allowed to have this again? It’s good,” Tommy asked, setting down the can and picking up his sandwich. 

“There’s too much sugar,” his father replied, not even looking up from his food this time. “I love you, Thomas, but I do not want to deal with you perpetually bouncing off the walls.” 

“I can’t bounce off- off walls, Dad, they’re sideways.” 

“I suppose.” G-man took the can from his son and took a swig. He reasoned the more he drank, the less Tommy would drink and get hyped up on. 

“Whoa, Dad, I see what you mean with the sugar.” 

“Hm?” 

“I can see faster.” 

“See faster? That’s an interesting way to put it.” 

“Yeah. It’s like, you’re slower than I- slower than I am.” 

G-man paused, looking to the side at his son. Tommy’s speech was slightly faster than normal, and his words almost blurred together. His eyes, although they usually zoomed around to soak in anything that interested him, were now rapidly rushing between all directions unlike they had ever before, almost like the boy was possessed. 

“Tommy-” 

“I’m okay I’m just seeing fast.” 

“It seems-” 

“Yeah.” 

“Let me talk, Thomas.” 

The boy was silent. 

“I hypothesize that this might actually be some manifestation of your power? Much like your dear old dad’s,” G-man said, reaching out and patting his son’s shoulder. Tommy was still silent, although his leg was bouncing under the table faster than G-man had ever seen his son move. “Interesting that it is… soda, of all things…” he murmured to himself. “Why don’t I… hm. Why don’t I walk back to my office, and you can follow very slowly. Try to stay close to me, okay?” 

Tommy nodded his head violently. With a quick blur of motion, his sandwich was gone. 

“Remember to stay close, son,” G-man instructed as he watched his son speed forward ahead of him a few feet, pause, wait for his father to catch up, and then repeat. It was like the child had been fast-forwarded, like a VHS, only to be paused when he got too far ahead. 

Once they returned to his father’s office, Tommy bolted for the chair he had been sitting on that morning, causing the chair to barrel against the wall from the force. Tommy seemed unaffected by his chair hitting the wall. 

“Thomas, why don’t we set you down over here?” his father asked, gently picking him up and setting him back down on an ottoman by the far corner of the office. “I think it’s time for you to settle down and take a nap for a bit, hm?” 

“I’m not- not tired,” Tommy replied, still faster than normal. 

“I figured that was the case, but you can’t go running around my office in a state like this. We can discuss this ‘soda speed’ of yours more when we get home.” 

“But- but, see faster, I can’t stop, stop seeing faster.” The six-year-old’s face started to look worried, and he wrung his hands. 

G-man took hold of his son’s hands in his own. “It’ll be alright. I can slow you down to return your body to temporal homeostasis, but I worry about the toll it could take on you. So, I recommend that it is now nap time.” 

Tommy felt his father’s hands turn cold all of a sudden, and he choked as the world sped back up around him. Everything was shaking, and his eyes couldn’t keep up. He squeezed his eyes shut as he felt a wave of nausea hit, and his limbs started to feel heavy, so he slumped down onto his side. He supposed that his father was right, a nap would sound amazing right about now. So he let himself drift off, hoping that when he woke up he would be able to see normally again. 

Of course, when he did finally wake up, he would immediately throw up, but that was a problem for the future.


	2. epic tommy and benrey friendship momentz

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is kinda rushed and blehhh but i needed more tommy and benrey interactions so take it :pensive:

Tommy wasn’t sure how he felt about his new job placement. On one hand, it was nice working in a new area of Black Mesa, especially one with so many vending machines for soda, but on the other hand, the way his father’s eyes had lit up when Tommy had announced his department transfer seemed a little too ecstatic. When Tommy asked his father about it, he had replied with a simple “can’t I be happy for my son?”, so Tommy hadn’t pressed any further. There was always something happening behind the scenes that G-man knew and Tommy didn’t, and at this point it wasn’t worth the effort to try to pull any “classified information” out of the older man. 

Tommy Coolatta was always one to look on the bright side, however, and so he chose to focus on the positives of his new position. For one, he probably knew the most about the crystal that Black Mesa had acquired, although he had to conveniently leave out that his knowledge of the crystal wasn’t just from studying theoretical alien dimensions. There was also the potential to meet new friends, even if all of his fellow scientists were decades older than him. The two scientists that Tommy was working closest with seemed nice enough, and their constant banter prevented him from feeling bored during the work day. He had always been drawn to rude and cynical people, so watching Dr. Bubby argue with Dr. Coomer about nothing in particular was always an amusing show for the younger scientist. 

Plus, Benrey was always there for when Tommy wanted to talk to him. The security guard had always moved around the facility as he pleased, so suddenly switching from the biological engineering department to be closer to his friend’s new position wasn’t exactly something he had to fill out a form for. On Tommy’s third day in the new department, Benrey was suddenly guarding the server room. 

On Tommy’s fifth day, a Friday, Benrey was waiting outside the break room when Tommy passed by for his lunch break. Tommy almost didn’t notice him, since he was lost in thought about the new episode of Invitation to Love that was supposed to air that night. Benrey cleared his throat to draw attention as he noticed that Tommy wasn’t going to stop for him, and Tommy spun on his heel to face whoever made the noise. 

“Oh! Benrey, hey!” 

“Hey, bro, you goin’ to uhhh, you goin’ to lunch?” Benrey asked in his usual detached tone. 

“Mhm!” Tommy affirmed. “Today I’m going to- going to have something different! Usually, you know, I have, um, a Coke, but today I’m going to have a root beer!” 

“Hell yeah, dude, go crazy.” Benrey pushed himself off the wall he was leaned against and started walking through the break room entrance. 

Tommy rushed to catch up with him. “Are you, um, taking your lunch break right now too?” 

“Yeah, dude, I wanted to have lunch with my best bro.” 

“Aww, Benrey,” Tommy grinned. “Don’t you- don’t you need, you know, food? For lunch?” he questioned, noticing Benrey’s lack of a lunch box. He figured it was plausible that Benrey had money in his pocket for the vending machines, but from the way the guard had reacted when he found out there were no Doritos in the machines, only plain Lay’s chips and Cheezits, Tommy doubted it. 

Benrey shrugged. “Don’t need to eat, bro. ‘M not human.”

“Ah, true.” Tommy had always wondered what exactly Benrey was, if he wasn’t human, but the scientist wasn’t sure if that sort of thing was appropriate to ask. He supposed that if someone tried to ask him what he was, he would be a little bit insulted. Of course, nobody ever had suspected that he was anything other than human, unlike Benrey, who never even tried to hide it. 

“Heavenly Sword got a new game out,” Benrey said as soon as the two sat down at one of the tables. “Next week gonna… stop by Gamestop and get it.” 

“Oh really?” Tommy asked, counting his coins for the vending machine. “Is that the one that- the one that you said isn’t a ripoff of… oh what was it…” 

“Heavenly Sword is NOT a ripoff of God of War.” 

Tommy made his way over to the vending machines and inserted the coins. “Yeah, that one!” He pressed the button for root beer and waited for the machine to do its thing. “Maybe I could come over and, um, play it with you sometime?” 

“Oooh, Tommy, so forward,” Benrey joked. “Not even gonna take me out for dinner first…” 

Tommy snorted. “Noooo, not like that!” He reached down to get his soda out of the machine, hoping that the in few seconds his back was turned to Benrey, the red would fade from his face. 

Sitting back down, Tommy cracked open his root beer and began sipping. Benrey stayed quiet and just observed. Their usual comfortable silence settled between them, and they just stayed in each other’s company for a few minutes, listening to the faint buzz of the fluorescent lighting above them. 

“So, um,” Benrey finally broke the silence, “The other night I caught uh, that show you like. The romance one.” 

“Invitation to Love?” 

“Mhm.” 

“Did you like it?” 

“It was okay. Kinda confusing.” 

“Well, that’s probably because- because you caught it in the middle. If you start on the first episode, I think you’ll understand and, um, like it more. I have all the episodes saved on my DVR if you ever want to come- come over and watch it.” 

Benrey smirked. “I dunno, maybe. You’ll still have to explain stuff to me, though.” 

“I’d love to!” Tommy beamed. “You know I could go on for- for hours about Invitation to Love!” The scientist aimed and threw the empty soda can in the recycling bin in the corner of the break room. “There’s actually, um, a new episode tonight! You could come over, if you want, and I can- I can explain some things that are going on so it makes more sense! It’ll be like a movie night!” 

“I… alright.” Benrey gave his friend a nod. “Not like I was gonna do anything else tonight.” 

So that was how Tommy found himself taking home his best friend to watch his favorite show. The car ride home wasn’t anything special, and if it weren’t for the dull glow of Benrey’s eyes from the passenger seat, Tommy wouldn’t have thought the ride any different from any other night drive home. 

“Be- be ready for Sunkist to jump all over you,” Tommy warned as he unlocked the front door to his house. “You know he gets excited when people come over.” 

“It’s chill, dude, you know I love your dog.” 

When Tommy opened the door, his massive golden retriever leapt through and tackled him. Tommy didn’t get knocked down, however, instead managing to hold Sunkist in his arms as the giant dog licked his face. 

“Aw, Sunkist, I missed you too!” The scientist managed to amble inside while carrying Sunkist, Benrey following close behind. “Make yourself at home, Benrey, I’m going to, um, get Sunkist a couple treats and change out of- out of my work clothes.” 

When Tommy returned, wearing a Minions t-shirt and red sweatpants, he found Benrey sitting on the sofa with his usual blank stare. Sunkist trotted past his owner and went to sniff at the new guest. 

“Hey, little dude, whatcha- oof.” The retriever jumped up onto the guard, licking his helmet. Benrey laughed, letting the dog do his thing before leaving Benrey alone to return to Tommy’s side. 

Tommy ignored the tightness in his chest at hearing Benrey laugh and headed over to the sofa himself. “So, the new episode starts in about ten minutes,” he said, grabbing the TV remote from the coffee table and turning on the TV, “want me to, um, get you caught up?” 

“Of course, dude, that’s what I’m here for.” 

Tommy switched to the correct channel for Invitation to Love, and started to explain the plotlines for the show. He mostly covered the romance plot points, since it was the main draw of the show, but he made sure to include other things (such as the notorious amnesia arc) to give a bigger picture. He rhythmically pet Sunkist as he talked, letting himself ramble about all the characters and relationships he enjoyed. Benrey only nodded occasionally to signal that he was still listening. 

“-and then, once they made up, they- oh! It’s starting!” Tommy exclaimed, noticing the start of the intro theme for the show. “I hope that’s enough to catch you up!” 

“Yeah, bro, that’s great.” 

Well, the episode wasn’t the worst, but it definitely wasn’t… good. Tommy grumbled to himself. Of course the one time he wanted to get his friend interested in the show, was when it was a dumb filler episode. Hopefully Benrey didn’t mind too much. Everything seemed to be the same amount of emotional white noise to the guard anyways, so it probably didn’t make much of a difference. 

At the second commercial break, Tommy cleared his throat. “So, um, how do you like it?” 

“‘S good. Kinda sappy. Wish there was more, uh, fights, ya know.” 

“Oh, don’t worry, there’s plenty of fights,” Tommy replied, thinking back to the awful love triangle arc of season three, “I don’t know if it’s the same kind of- kind of fights you like, though.” 

“Mm.” 

Tommy turned his attention back to the commercials. Benrey was in even less of a talking mood than usual, so the scientist thought to just leave him be. He was probably just not interested in the show and didn’t want to hurt Tommy’s feelings, and on Monday they could go back to normal. 

“It’s gonna start soon.” 

“Hm?” Tommy turned to face his friend in confusion. “The- the show’s already started, Benrey, I-”

“Not that.” The guard shook his head slightly. “Something… else is gonna happen. I can feel it.” 

“In real life?” Tommy tried to ignore the pit forming in his gut, but the crack in his voice gave away his concern. 

The guard nodded. “Don’t know what yet, but, something’s coming soon. Really not good, bro. Gonna fuckin’ suuuuck.” 

“Well, we do have a very… important experiment on Monday,” Tommy said, thinking about what the event could be. “A very dangerous one. They’re even transferring another, um, scientist from a different department to come carry out the test.” Tommy thought back to when he had informed his father of Black Mesa transferring a so-called “Dr. Freeman” over to execute the test on Monday, and how the older man quickly had to hide a smirk from his face. It was worrying, but as with most things involving his father’s secrets, Tommy kept his mouth shut. 

“Probably that, then,” Benrey replied. “Watch it like, go wrong or whatever. Fuckin’… fail experiment…” 

“Don’t say that! You’ll jinx it!” Tommy exclaimed. “Besides, I’m sure Dr. Freeman is perfectly capable of successfully performing the test.” 

“Who?” Benrey asked. Tommy was never good at reading faces, but he could tell that Benrey was full of suspicion. Not so much anger, per se, but a rough defense against a perceived threat. 

“Oh, that’s- that’s um, the new scientist being transferred over. He’s starting work in the department on Monday with the experiment.” 

“Hm.” Benrey looked lost in thought for a moment. “You met this guy yet?” 

Tommy shook his head. “His first day is- is probably when I’ll meet him, but I’ve heard a lot about him. He seems, um, nice, I guess, from what the other scientists have said.” 

“But you hate nice people.” 

“Sometimes.” 

“You think he’s gonna fuck it up, like a loser baby?” 

“I really hope not.” 

Silence filled the room again, tense this time. Commercials were still running, so Tommy couldn’t distract himself with Invitation to Love, only being able to space out while looking at the flashy ads. He heard a soft tone from beside him, and saw some yellow and green orbs out of his peripheral. That wasn’t a good sign. 

“You know, Benrey, I do have, um, significant influence in this whole thing,” Tommy said. “I’ll do my best to make sure it- it goes smoothly. As long as he’s slow with handling the crystal and everything, I think… I think it’ll turn out okay.” He gave the guard a hopeful smile. 

Benrey only shot out blue in response, and Tommy figured he was trying to calm himself down. Hopefully the last third of the show would distract them both, even if the episode wasn’t good. 

“So? What do you think?” Tommy asked as soon as the ending credits started to roll. “Sorry it wasn’t, um, the best episode, but I hope it was enough to intro- introduce you to the show!” 

Benrey nodded. “It was cool. Thanks for showing it to me, man.” 

“I’m glad to have shared it!” Tommy replied excitedly. “I always love doing things with you!” 

Benrey cracked a grin. “See you on Monday then?” He stood up from the sofa, letting his joints crack as he stretched. 

Tommy blinked. “You’re leaving already?” Benrey was always known to leave suddenly, but Tommy figured that the guard would want to talk to his friend a little bit before leaving. Oh well, he was probably just being overly sentimental again. 

“Yeah, gotta uh… feed my fish.” 

“You don’t have any fish?” 

“You’ve never been to my place, how would you know?” 

Tommy furrowed his brows. “Do you even have a home outside Black Mesa?” 

“That’s for me to know and you to find out.” 

“Benrey, I…” Tommy wrung his hands as he thought about what to say next. Benrey’s anxiety of something bad happening, combined with his father’s weird excitement of Tommy’s new job and coworker, didn’t bode well in Tommy’s mind, especially with the approaching test the next week. Something seemed very suspicious about it all, and Tommy would probably spend all night worrying about it, but he pushed all his anxieties to the side for the moment. Consoling his friend came first. “It’ll all be okay. Nothing bad is going to happen.” 

Benrey just made a noncommittal noise. 

“Come on, let’s talk about this. You’re going to- going to worry yourself to death all weekend if we don’t.” Tommy stood up, hoping that his height advantage would help his case. 

“Fine.” Benrey crossed his arms and avoided his friend’s gaze. “Shit’s gonna… go wrong man. Not that I like, care, but… don’t want anything to happen to my bro.” 

“I’ll be fine, Benrey, I can take care of myself, and I can make sure the other participants take care of themselves too,” Tommy protested. Plus, he always had the option of his dad bailing him out if things became too much, even if he didn’t want to rely more on his dad than he had to. “Although, um, I appreciate the concern. I know this sounds, uh, a little weird, but, let’s just say it’s harder to kill me than you think.” 

“Got cheats on, huh? 

“You could say that.” 

“Niiice.”

“Plus! My birthday is next week, and I doubt anything bad would happen on my birthday. Maybe you’re just worried because you haven't bought me a present yet?” 

The guard’s eyes widened. “Shit.” 

Tommy giggled. “See? Nothing to worry about! Just your subconscious telling you to- telling you to remember to get me a gift, that’s all.” 

“Yeah, I guess so…” Benrey trailed off. “Can’t believe I forgot your big three seven, that’s mega sucks.” 

“Hey, at least you remembered how, um, how old I’m going to be!” Tommy reassured. “Don’t worry about it!” He patted his friend’s helmet lightly. 

Benrey stuck out his tongue childishly. “Meh. Still cringe I got so worried about it.” 

Tommy just nodded along, making sure Benrey felt secure enough to stop worrying. He didn’t want his best friend to bear the burden of fear of a catastrophe. If anything, Tommy was more connected to all the little instances that signaled something bad happening, with his involvement in the crystal experiment and his father’s unusual happiness, so he would by default be the one to have to worry over it. Weirdly, though, he didn’t feel nearly as worried as he thought he should be in the situation, and thought that maybe he was just analyzing things too deeply again, something he tended to often do whenever anything went too far out of his routine. 

Benrey’s anxiety probably meant nothing. G-man’s excitement also probably meant nothing. Tommy would make sure nothing went wrong on Monday. He would be fine. Everything would be fine. 

But, of course, nothing was going to be fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tommy coolatta is the ceo of "everythings fine im just going to ignore my problems while also taking on my friends emotional burdens so they dont feel sad so everything can b ok and we can all be happy :)"

**Author's Note:**

> i had to google coca cola vending machines for this bc i straight up forgot what they look like hdjgfhkjlg


End file.
